


Alternate

by Riley_Ludicrous



Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Multiverse, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 12:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18250217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riley_Ludicrous/pseuds/Riley_Ludicrous
Summary: Kay and her brother, Xander, fly to England to meet their grandparents.  The plane takes them somewhere that is decidedly not England, and thus begins their adventure of getting back.





	Alternate

I sit in the back of the car while Xander focuses on driving into the departure doors at Denver International Airport. Mom is lecturing at us because it’s her favorite way to distract herself from how much she’s going to miss us. It doesn’t change the fact that we hate being lectured, or that she’s sending us to out grandparents who are losing their hearing, or that her lecture is slightly unnecessary. The two of us have flown more in my seventeen years and his fifteen than most adults do in their lives.

Xander and I were naive; we still are to some extent, but we’re disillusioned at this point, and it shows in his bitter humor and the fact that I look happy even when I’m actually glaring at someone. We’ve dealt in different ways, but in the end, we’re each other’s only constant allies even when we disappoint everyone else. 

“Kay, what did I just tell you?” Mom tells me pointedly as she gives me a meaningful glance over the back of her chair. I look up at her and my eyes glide over the rearview mirror where I can see Xander rolling his eyes. 

“Our checked luggage is already on its way, so we don’t have to worry about that stop. Get to security and go through the international lines. Let Xander do the talking,” my brother fails to stifle a chuckle at my last comment, “and don’t distract little kids on the tram. Call you when we get to our gate.” I wave my phone around when I’m done reciting, and she cracks a smile.

“Don’t worry about us, Mom: I’ll be there to keep Kay in check,” Xander proclaims self-importantly, and I reach forward to whack him in the back of his head. He glares at me in the mirror, probably for distracting him while he’s driving, but I can tell he’s not that bothered. Mom gears up to give me a lecture for it, though, so he frantically changes his expression and cheerily points out the drop-off curb. 

Mom focuses on directing him to an opening, and I whisper a thank you so quiet only Xander can hear it from right in front of me. Once we’re parked, we get out of the car and circle to the back to get our suitcases and backpacks. The biggest difference between this and any other flight the two of us have taken is either that Mom and Dad won’t be on it with us, or that I’m packing a blow dryer and a curling iron. In the past I’ve rejected anything of the sort, but I finally got tired of flat hair.

We take our turns hugging Mom and kissing her cheeks like a sandwich of children, because we might hate her lecturing, but we love her. We’ll miss her, especially with our grandparents taking care of us in their well-meaning ways.

“I love you,” I shout as we walk away, and Xander quickly echoes the sentiment. She calls back that she loves us too, and I blow her one last kiss before we go through the door and break into a run to get to security. 

We hate running, Xander and I, but we love running in places we’re not supposed to. Usually our parents would firmly tell us to quit it and act our ages, but they aren’t here, so we only getting disapproving looks from adults whose opinions don’t matter. He quickly overtakes me, and if we were a year younger, this would turn into a competition, but I’ve long given up hope of being the more athletic offspring. I just beg him to take it easy on my old bones, and he gives me an unimpressed look back before slowing down enough that I don’t lose sight of him. 

We make it through security, and I only fall a little bit in love with the pretty TSA officer waving us through. I get an eye-roll from Xander for my low-key flirting tactics that don’t even look like flirting to someone who isn’t us. I’m surprisingly subtle. I creep up on you.

We’re back to running when we get to the moving walkways on the way to our gate. Once it’s in eyesight, I take out my phone and dial Mom. The call is quick and efficient and ends with an extra ‘I love you’ like all my calls do. Xander’s saved me a seat by the time I hang up. 

 

The best part of any plane ride is the landing, the drop and the jostling, but hardcore turbulence is a strong contender. I’ve never been scared during plane rides because they are a familiarity. I love being high in the sky where no one from below can touch me. I think for hours on end, the same two albums on repeat for the entire flight. The last international flight they were Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ and Twenty One Pilots’ ‘Blurryface’ because were the only ones in the in-flight entertainment that I liked at the time. 

There are little things that I hate about everything, though, like the moments where waiting feels too long and I know I can’t sing along because Xander will grab me in a chokehold.

I really just want to go home, but I don’t know where home could be on this planet, in this universe. There are windows of comfort zone, but they pass quickly, and I’m stuck belonging nowhere like a soul that should have passed on.

 

The landing comes after Xander and I have both miraculously fallen asleep, like we never do, and we’re woken by the flight attendant telling us that we’re landing in the next 30 minutes. We know he’s telling us specifically because there are suddenly no other passengers aboard the plane. I turn to give Xander a bemused look, and he raises an eyebrow in response.

I look around again, and the people are all there again, but something feels different in a cliche, ominous, surreal kind of way.

That’s the only warning we get.

**Author's Note:**

> If you follow me for my fan fiction, I hope you weren't too disappointed by this! I'll be focusing on "serenade me with your ocean eyes" primarily, so don't worry about my progress getting ruined on that one. Let me know what you think of this intro, please! I've been building the idea for this story for a long time, so I'm really excited to post it.


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